My morning with dad: capturing magical memories on a dirt road drive.

Blustery. It’s about the only word to describe the weather this morning. And it’s one of my dad’s favorite kinds of weather. Gray skies, crisp temperatures…perfect for driving the dirt roads and capturing raw Kansas beauty. Despite the teeth-rattling winds, we headed out this morning, Sony CyberShots in hand, and completely enjoyed a dad-daughter photo outing. My dad is no stranger to the lens, having served as Navy photographer back in the 60s, and then as a (mainly) commercial photographer for years after that. I spent many an afternoon with him in our at-home darkroom, waiting patiently for the magical images to appear on the page. If I close my eyes and focus, I can still smell the chemicals and hear the paper being swished in the pan.

But this morning, it was just us and our cameras, driving slowly down sandy roads, stopping and snapping when we saw something interesting. The images appeared instantly. No need for a dark room. And although we didn’t need to wait for the images to develop, it was no less magical.